illegal characters in path error c#

Question

I'm trying to download a csv file from the following link but an exception "illegal characters in path error" is thrown at the last line. I believe it's the question mark sign in the link that messes up everything but I have to get it working.. Any suggestions?

string remoteUri = "download.finance.yahoo.com/d/quotes.csv?s=%40%5EDJI,aapl&f=o&e=.csv";
string fileName = "aapl.csv", myStringWebResource = null;
// Create a new WebClient instance.
WebClient myWebClient = new WebClient();
// Concatenate the domain with the Web resource filename.
myStringWebResource = remoteUri + fileName;
// Download the Web resource and save it into the current filesystem folder.
myWebClient.DownloadFile(myStringWebResource, fileName);

You could could just replace the question mark with another character... — rory.ap, Sep 25 '15 at 15:08
This link could be helpful : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/146134/how-to-remove-illegal-characters-from-path-and-filenames — Ruchi, Sep 25 '15 at 15:09
Cannot reproduce. The second argument for `DownloadFile()` is the path to download the file to, and that contains "aapl.csv" in your example. That path will not throw the reported exception. — CodeCaster, Sep 25 '15 at 15:09
I tried to replace the question mark with # and it's still not working — Ofer Gozlan, Sep 25 '15 at 15:10
One more link : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19932755/illegal-characters-in-path-error-when-downloading-csv-file — Ruchi, Sep 25 '15 at 15:10
myStringWebResource is "download.finance.yahoo.com/d/quotes.csv?s=%40%5EDJI,aapl&f=o&e=.csvaapl.csv" which seems not correct. — , Sep 25 '15 at 15:10
@Will sure, but that still won't throw the given exception. A 404 WebException at best. — CodeCaster, Sep 25 '15 at 15:15
I think your problem is `myStringWebResource = remoteUri + fileName;`, just don't do that. Then replace the last line with `myWebClient.DownloadFile(remoteUri, fileName);` — bkribbs, Sep 25 '15 at 15:18

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 25 '15 at 15:18

3

This works:

string remoteUri = @"http://download.finance.yahoo.com/d/quotes.csv?s=%40%5EDJI,aapl&f=o&e=.csv";
string fileName = @"c:\aapl.csv";

// Create a new WebClient instance.
WebClient myWebClient = new WebClient();       

// Download the Web resource and save it into the current filesystem folder.
myWebClient.DownloadFile(remoteUri, fileName);

answered Sep 25 '15 at 15:18

Steve Wellens

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Dont forget to dispose the WebClient. See my answer. – aloisdg Sep 25 '15 at 15:25

aloisdg · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-25T15:28:54.850

Ok. Lets see your code.

// Dont forget the "http://". A lot of browser add it themselves but the WebClient doesnt.
string remoteUri = "download.finance.yahoo.com/d/quotes.csv?s=%40%5EDJI,aapl&f=o&e=.csv";

// I recommend to take the habitude to write each one in one line.
string fileName = "aapl.csv", myStringWebResource = null;

// Use the "using" keyword to dispose WebClient
WebClient myWebClient = new WebClient();

// Why are you doing this? Your url is working without. No need to concat here.
myStringWebResource = remoteUri + fileName;

// Download the Web resource and save it into the current filesystem folder.
myWebClient.DownloadFile(myStringWebResource, fileName);

Solution to test : (Demo on .NETFiddle)

using System;
using System.Net;

public class Program
{
    public void Main()
    {
        string remoteUri = "http://download.finance.yahoo.com/d/quotes.csv?s=%40%5EDJI,aapl&f=o&e=.csv";

        using (var myWebClient = new WebClient())
        {
            string csv = myWebClient.DownloadString(remoteUri);
            Console.WriteLine(csv);
        }   
    }
}

Solution to your problem :

using System;
using System.Net;

public class Program
{
    public void Main()
    {
        string remoteUri = "http://download.finance.yahoo.com/d/quotes.csv?s=%40%5EDJI,aapl&f=o&e=.csv";
        string fileName = "aapl.csv";

        using (var myWebClient = new WebClient())
        {
            myWebClient.DownloadFile(remoteUri, fileName);
        }   
    }
}

illegal characters in path error c#

2 Answers2